All Ops & safety articles – Page 1309
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News
747-400IGW gets go-ahead
Guy Norris/SEATTLE The Boeing board has given its civil-aircraft sales team authority to offer a growth version of the 747-400 with a maximum take-off weight of 413,140kg and a range of up to 14,245km (7,700nm). The decision is the first significant growth step for the aircraft since the ...
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Yak-42 crashes
An Air Ukraine Yakovlev Yak-42 chartered by Kiev-based AeroSvit has crashed near Thessaloniki, northern Greece, with 62 passengers and eight crew on board. The aircraft (UR-42334) disappeared at about 21:15 local time on 17 December after the crew, inbound from Odessa, had made two unsuccessful night approaches to land, in ...
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P&W considers new rival for CFM56
Guy Norris/EAST HARTFORD Pratt & Whitney has begun studies of an advanced-technology geared-fan engine in an initiative to re-enter the narrowbody market and challenge the dominance of CFM International. The study outlines an initial series of engines for the 107-156kN (24,000-35,000lb)-thrust range, and is based around the use ...
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Boeing expects to receive JAA approval of 737-700 in January
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing expects the first of the Next Generation 737 models, the -700, to be given long-awaited European certification by "mid- to late-January" when final tests are conducted on the first European production-standard -700, which is destined for Maersk Air of Denmark. The tests centre on the ...
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RVSM comes of age after trial period
Following a successful eight-month trial period, North Atlantic tracks (NAT) working to reduced vertical-separation minima (RVSM) are to be declared fully operational on 27 March. Plans have also been announced to extend the RVSM vertical band in 1998. The NAT RVSM vertical band is now FL330-FL370 (33,000-37,000ft/10,060-11,280m). This is ...
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Air France president Spinetta lays plans for competitiveness
Julian Moxon/Paris Air France president Jean-Cyril Spinetta has unveiled the main elements in his plans to solve the "persistent competitiveness problems" which he says continue to plague the airline. Pilots' unions have objected to the plan, however. The strategy centres on a Fr40 billion ($6.7 billion) investment in ...
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APS seeks Level D standard for Runway Performance software
Aviation Performance Systems is seeking Level D status under the Do178B software standard for its Runway Performance computer software. The system can be run on desktop personal computers, or hand-held devices - such as the Psion 3 or 5 series - or new hand-held devices running Microsoft Windows CE. ...
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PIA chairman begins mission to restore 'financial discipline'
New Pakistan International Airlines(PIA) chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has set about a clean sweep of the carrier's finances, taking heavy write-offs in the latest 1996/7 accounts and pledging to "restore operational and financial discipline". The accounts, which show a heavy Rs4.8 billion ($110 million)net loss in the year to ...
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Psychiatrists have too big a say in the selection of pilots
What is the best way to decide who should sit in the flightd Sir - I greatly agree with Mr Julian Ticehurst's letter (Flight International, 26 November -2 December) about "Fliers who lose their way" (Flight International, 5-11 November), but have something to add. The scenario depicted by the US ...
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French/US bilateral talks stall
Julian Moxon/PARIS Failure of the latest round of negotiations on a bilateral deal between France and the USA has put at risk a major element of the commercial agreement between Air France, Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines and American Airlines' separate plans to link with Air Liberté. ...
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TWA crash hearing helps to clarify policy on fuel tanks
The public hearing on the 1996 Trans World Airlines flight 800 fatal crash ended in Baltimore on 12 December without the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) coming any nearer to discovering the cause, although it can claim to have clarified potential safety policies. Measures to reduce the risk ...
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Navigator survives Sharjah crash
A chartered Tajik Air Tupolev Tu-154B-2 crashed on 15 December near Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, killing all 85 passengers and eight of the nine crew. The navigator survived. Inbound from Tajikistan, the aircraft disappeared from air-traffic-control radar screens at 1,600ft (500m) and hit the ground 13km (7nm) short ...
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FAA recommendations
US air-traffic-control services must be removed from the US Federal Aviation Administration to a "performance-based" organisation if a "looming disaster" of aviation gridlock after 2000 is to be avoided, says the National Civil Aviation Review Commission. The Clinton Administration has previously failed to win Congressional approval to shift the FAA's ...
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Hidden turmoil
There is something vaguely ironic about Boeing outlining continuing production delays and, in the same breath, of the need to shed production staff. The irony is, however, a reflection of the underlying turmoil in the civil airframe industry - a turmoil which has to some extent been hidden by the ...
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Rocky Mountain high
Guy Norris/VANCOUVER We pull out of a 3g turn over Garibaldi Lake and fly towards the Black Tusk rock. The immense flanks of the mountain rear up in front and, for a moment, it seems as if my flight with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic display team is about ...
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Marketplace
++ Philippine Airlines has agreed to the early return of two Boeing 747-200s to the lessor, Atlas Air. The two aircraft, acquired by Atlas under earlier sale/leaseback deals, were scheduled to be handed back in late 1998 and 2000 but will instead be terminated in January and February 1998. The ...
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BA pioneers global monitoring
Ian Sheppard/LONDON British Airways is using an aircraft visual-tracking system which allows it to monitor the position of aircraft and immediately react to unforeseen events which cause flights to be diverted. Previously a diversion decision by a flightcrew would require "a call to tech-dispatch and manual calculation of ...
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Snecma lands in full control of Messier-Dowty as TI sells out
Snecma plans to take full control of the Messier-Dowty landing-gear business just three years after the Anglo-French joint venture was founded in a 50/50 partnership, together with the TI Group. The company now plans to create a major landing-systems business, including its Messier-Bugatti brakes unit. Under the terms of ...
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LTU dismisses managers as 767 cracks show poor maintenance
AndrzejJeziorski/MUNICH German charter operator LTU has sacked three senior managers after the discovery of a series of maintenance deficiencies in the fleet of Munich-based sister airline LTU Süd. LTU says that it is unable to name the managers concerned for legal reasons, but they included one of two ...
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Fairchild rolls out first 328JET
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Fairchild Dornier has unveiled the first 328JET prototype at Oberpfaffenhoffen, and is to begin trials this month. The aircraft has been created by the conversion of the second Dornier 328 turboprop prototype. Its first flight is due on 20 January, weather permitting, says Fairchild Dornier president ...



















